Coal, coal go away

I'm appalled that China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) is proposing to build a coal-fired plant for the trans-shipment port on Goat Island. What audacity and hypocrisy. China is the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels — a technology they is lighting up their cities and towns. They should be talking about building a solar campus on the island for local, regional and North American markets.

We already have the Riverton Landfill. We don't want our small and beautiful island to be polluted like Beijing with heavy smog; having the adverse health effects on its inhabitants. The Jamaican Government and people should have none of it.

We are in an era of clean, green energy. What is worrisome is the fact that these companies are aware of the negative effects of this dangerous fossil fuel has on the environment. But in spite of this, every chance they get they're promoting coal.

Of note, in early February in Eden, North Carolina, a waste disposal pipe was fractured from a coal plant owned and operated by Duke Energy, the country's largest utility company. It contaminated and polluted the Dan River with 39,000 tons of coal ash. It affected drinking water and aquatic life. Since then the Federal Government has launched an investigation into the spill.

When Digicel was building its corporate headquarters in downtown Kingston they didn't propose building a coal-fired plant, they went with clean energy — solar and wind.

There's nothing to rationalise about coal in my opinion. Coal should remain where it belongs — in those countries that produce it. They are far better and cleaner alternatives.

Noel Mitchell

Westchester, New York

nlmworld@yahoo.com

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